Rick's Revelation that he's not baby Judith's Father

There was a beautifully refreshing, yet totally unexpected moment in the most recent episode of The Walking Dead. Rick is at his house in Alexandria setting up makeshift beds on the floor (thanks to Negan and The Saviours for stealing their mattresses, only to go and burn them afterwards. Yes, this is what Michonne saw at the end of the episode for those who didn't catch it) when Michonne walks in to talk to him. 

Michonne begins to question Rick, in order to gauge where he's mentally at. Does he want to fight Negan? Is there a plan lurking somewhere in the back of Rick's head? What's the next step? Sadly, much to Michonne's frustration, there doesn't seem to be one. Rick has ultimately admitted defeat. Negan has won. "they've got the numbers" exclaims Rick. "what about The Hilltop!?" asks Michonne, Rick fires back - "but they've still got the numbers!"

Michonne looks totally crushed, as does Rick. She now realises that this is the way it is. The man she used to look up to has thrown in the towel. He's waving the white flag.

"I had to accept that"

Rick then proceeds to tell Michonne of his former best friend and partner, Shane Walsh. Just to make it clear, I personally love when a TV Series makes a meaningful callback to past characters and events - it's something I think they should do more of in The Walking Dead. It just helps everything connect together and carries on the flow of storytelling - something that a lot of people criticise this show for - much more thoroughly.

Michonne never met Shane as she wasn't around at the time when he was alive, this explains why she looks so shocked as Rick is telling the story of his past relationship and most importantly the love triangle that existed between Lori, Rick and Shane. The love triangle that is responsible for baby Judith, who Rick now admits for the first time is not "really" his own. 

Shane and Lori before the apocalypse

"I know Judith isn't mine, I know it."

Wow, this shocking revelation is one that many fans of The Walking Dead - including myself - never figured would get brought up again, hence why I found it so refreshing. 

Here we have Rick at quite possibly one of his lowest moments (to be fair, there have been a lot!) and yet he still finds it in himself to push on, put his own beliefs to one side - in this case the belief that Judith is not really his daughter - and survive. 

"I know Judith isn't mine," he said. "I know it. I love her. She's my daughter. But she isn't mine. I had to accept that. I did. So I could keep her alive. I'll die before she does, and I hope that's a long time from now so I can raise her, protect her, and teach her how to survive. This is how we live now. I had to accept that too, so I could keep everyone else alive."

Reading into this tells us a couple of key things:

1. Rick says he "had to accept that" likely meaning that he's known for a long time that Judith isn't really his own flesh and blood, even if he didn't admit this to anyone else. The fact that he's known this for a while, and still risked his life countless times to protect her shows us that deep down he truly is a decent, caring man. Some men of this world wouldn't raise a child as their own as it is, so adding a zombie apocalypse to the table really shows us those who do, and don't ultimately care.
2. Rick telling Michonne that "this is how we live now" shows us that Rick is no longer willing to take risks. He's seen the consequences of that first hand with the horrific deaths of Abraham and Glenn. All he wants to do now is survive and keep everyone else alive, most importantly Carl and Judith. This was emphasised furthermore in the episode when he had an emotional crack in his voice whilst explaining to Michonne that he simply can't, and won't lose anyone else!

I think the writers created this scene so that we can see clearly the state of mind that Rick is currently in, and who can really blame him? He feels the guilt for everyone's deaths weighing heavily upon his shoulders. His whole emphasis on the fact that Negan is in charge, no matter how much he hates to admit that, tells us he's willing to do whatever is required to prevent anyone else from dying. 

The question now is what will Rick do going forwards - especially when it seems not everyone is as willing to get on board the 'Negan train'. Leave your thoughts and comments below or discuss on our Walking Dead Forum.

The Angel and Devil on Andrea's shoulder

As the countdown to the Season Two Finale begins, fans of The Walking Dead wonder which cast members will fail to survive and fight on in Season Three. For the first time since the group left the CDC in Atlanta, I find myself hoping Andrea is not part of the upcoming body count.

Oh, I still don’t like her much. I also don’t like Lori, to the point I almost cringe typing my own name. The argument the two women had in the kitchen of the farmhouse a few episodes ago drove me crazy, because I agreed with every single rotten thing they said about each other. I sort of hoped a walker would lurch out of the pantry and have a bitch buffet.

But now I feel as if Andrea is on the cusp of something, and it could be very interesting. She’s made a lot of transitions in the first two seasons, perhaps more than any other character. She started out trying to be tough, going into town on missions. Still, despite being a civil rights attorney with – presumably – a life of her own, she in many ways remained the daughter who fished with her father and wanted to make up for ignoring her younger sister.

When Amy was attacked and awoke as a walker, Andrea dug deep, searching for the inner strength to do what had to be done to prevent her baby sister from continuing in that dark existence. It was undoubtedly the most difficult thing she’d ever had to do, but that decision came from love, not calculated, strategic violence. The act changed her profoundly, making her doubt her will to live in this new reality.

Dale wouldn’t let her “opt out.” Seeing him as her surrogate father, Andrea saved herself to save him, and eventually regained her will to go on. But in order to protect herself from further emotional and psychological damage, she started pushing Dale away and stomped all her emotional sensitivity down, adopting a stoic, practical persona. And who guided her and nurtured this mercenary attitude? Shane. He taught her to shoot, and he encouraged her to tap into her repressed rage to find the cold, dead attitude he believed she needed to survive.

As the debate raged about deciding Randall’s fate, Dale reminded her of her former role as a civil rights attorney. She cared about fighting for people who couldn’t fight for themselves. By the time a decision was reached, she was wavering, asking if they could find another way to eliminate the threat the boy posed, short of killing him.

Dale was the angel on one shoulder, whispering in her ear about humanity, fighting for what’s right, and not letting the daily horrors change who she is on a fundamental level. Meanwhile, Shane was the devil on the other shoulder, urging her to shed her emotions in favor of a hard, calculating, merciless approach, focused on nothing but survival.

Now, in the space of about twenty-four hours, Andrea has lost her two primary influences. Her angel died, his integrity intact, even if his innards were not. Her devil also died, victim of his own murderous plot and the error of underestimating exactly how far Rick would go to protect his family.

Andrea has alienated herself from much of the group. The remaining men don’t really see her as the warrior she tried to become, and the women see her as a slacker or a cold, distant, delusional guardian wanna-be. Who will become her new stabilizing or destabilizing influence, if anyone? Will she become even more isolated and bitter in the absence of Dale? Will she become more ruthless, stepping up to fill the void left by Shane? Or will she remember her connection to Dale and recover her emotional balance, perhaps even developing into a unifying force in this traumatized, fractured group?

If she isn’t among the dead (or un-dead) at the end of the Season Two Finale, she will be a fascinating character to watch in Season Three.

The Influence of Lori and Andrea

The big brawl between Rick and Shane looms on the horizon, and at the center are two of the show’s most polarizing figures.

In this post-apocalyptic word, most of the skills and jobs held before are completely irrelevant. For someone like Lori, who has no outstanding capabilities to fight walkers¹ or survive in harsh conditions, the only option is to attach herself to someone who is capable of those things. Enter Shane who, if inferences made from their conversation in Triggerfinger are correct, has had a thing for Lori since long before the virus happened. He is strong, a fighter, and willing to do anything to keep Lori and Carl safe, even if to the detriment of others. Then there is Rick. Her husband, also strong and capable, and a natural leader. Both of these men, although different in approach, are very much the alphas of the group.

Under these circumstances, it would be difficult to find a sense of self-worth, as Lori’s entire existence depends on another person. This all has led me to believe there is a part of Lori that enjoys having two alpha males fighting over her. It may be disingenuous to say it is a conscious feeling, but there is at the very least a sub-conscious pleasure to be had from the turmoil. Lori’s helplessness and neediness has fed into both men’s love and desire to protect, who then spend most of their waking energy on her. The majority of their decisions, especially of late, have been based in some way on Lori and, to a lesser extent, Carl. It would be difficult not to get an ego boost from such hyper-aware attention from the two most desirable men around². Despite being the one protected, Lori wields a very real power over them, and seeing as she has little control over the rest of her life, it is little wonder that she would sub-consciously revel in it.

Despite clinging to certain pre-apocalypse societal norms, such as honoring marriage by sticking with Rick, Lori shows a new level of ruthlessness in Triggerfinger. Shane’s increasingly aggressive way of handling things and obsessiveness towards Lori finally has her worried, and the way she approaches this situation is really what cemented my belief on Lori’s enjoyment of wielding power. She pulls a Lady Macbeth and essentially tells Rick that he needs to kill Shane before Shane gets him first. Although this showdown has been a longtime coming, Lori provides the tipping point for Rick.

The other player in this tableau is Andrea. She was in the same boat as Lori, but showed from the beginning an intense desire to be able to fight and has been reckless in its pursuit. Andrea has alienated herself from most of the group through the attempted suicide and endangerment of others by using a weapon without training, so when shown the least bit of consideration from Shane, she grabs onto it with a death grip. He has provided the means for her to finally be a contributing member of the group, as well as validation that she has some worth. Because of this, Andrea has been willfully blind to any indications that Shane is unstable. It of course doesn’t help that Dale is the one attempting to convince her of Shane’s duplicity, as she remains resentful of his interference at the CDC.

Andrea is not the only one getting something out of their relationship. In Andrea, Shane gets outside reinforcement in his belief that he is the only one that really takes care of the group; that the actions he takes are the correct ones. Although Shane does not need nearly as much outside influence as Rick does to come into conflict with each other, Andrea unwittingly provides it. When Shane says that their group is being put in danger and Andrea replies “Well, then we need to stop it”, she undoubtedly means making sure that Randall’s group does not find them. However, in Shane’s mind the real danger, the one who is standing in his way, is Rick. This constant affirmation from Andrea for his every action just cements in Shane’s mind that something needs to be done about Rick, both to protect the group and so he can claim what he believes to be rightfully his: Lori and the baby.

Based on the previews and sneak peaks for 18 Miles Out we will most likely be seeing the big confrontation between Rick and Shane and I for one cannot wait to see how it plays out.

1. Obviously Lori had her first Walker kills in Triggerfinger and did so fairly competently. However, I will postulate that this happened because there was literally no other option. She has shown over the course of the show a distinct unwillingness to learn survival skills. In any other situation we have seen where Lori come into contact with Walkers she has let someone else take care of her. The biggest instance of this was when the heard attacks camp in season one. All Lori does is scream “Shane” and hide behind his back. Perhaps with these recent kills we will see her evolve into someone that is not content with being saved, but as of now she is firmly in the role of the protected.

2. Although Daryl is the most capable of anyone in the group to survive, he is still viewed as a second class citizen by most of the group and not as a leader. At least, not yet!

Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangle: Shane, Lori and Rick

I’ve read a lot and heard a lot about the Shane, Lori and Rick triangle. Here’s my two-cents about it:

Shane

He loves Lori. From what I’ve seen, he has loved Lori for years. Long before the apocalypse drew her to him. As much of a “prodigy, banging 30-year olds on the regular” as he was, I believe he was always jealous of Rick for finding Lori. Of course, modern society left Shane at a disadvantage, because Rick was his best friend. Then Rick and Lori eventually married and had Carl. But I believe Shane always envied Rick because of that, and always saw what Rick had as his.

I mean he essentially saw Rick come into his own as a man and a leader, (this requires some assumption, based primarily on Rick’s authoritative demeanor in Days Gone Bye and Shane’s proceeding subservience leading into Season Two). Shane possesses the drive and natural protective instincts that a leader needs, but he does not have the right attitude nor the much-needed ability to detach his feelings and look at things as right versus wrong. I’ve said it before, and I thoroughly believe it: You need more than guts and determination to live in zombie land. You need compassion and good character. Just because the world’s gone to hell doesn’t mean you need to follow suit. Fair enough?

Lori

Her relationship with Rick was rocky before the introduction of walking corpses. Can you imagine that in your wedding vows? ‘Till death do we part, in sickness, health, and ravenous walkers.’ Married with zombies is a bit of an understatement. I believe she wanted Rick to be more assertive. To “yell at me when he’s mad,” and not take her crap all the time. Hell, she gave him permission to yell at her after the morning after pill fiasco. How twisted is that?

That is one of the reasons why I think she was drawn to Shane after the apocalypse. Yeah, he lied to her about Rick’s death, though in his defense, that hospital was a hell-mouth. But I think she was too quick to believe him. Again, the introduction of zombies kind of forces one to deviate from ‘normal behaviors,’ but I believe it does that for the already weak. I think Lori was looking for a way out of that relationship when Shane offered her salvation.

There’s no doubt that Shane and Rick are two different men; Shane is the aggressive, ‘inherent’ alpha male that reacts; Rick is the passive, unlikely alpha male that thinks. They each have desirable qualities, but as a woman, I think Lori most identifies with Shane as her close to perfect mate. I think she loved him. But when Rick turned up alive, it through everything into question. Does she love Rick because she cares deeply for him? Or because she’s married to him?

I definitely believe she is torn between both men, and while her motives may not be pure, her actions are necessary to push Rick into a final confrontation with Shane. Tell it to the frogs.

Rick

Rick is a man that does not encourage his violent side. He is by no means a coward; he showed that in the closing minutes of Nebraska. But I do believe he needs to brazenly meet confrontation with the same determination he had when confronting Dave and Tony. Namely, those choosing to challenge his leadership; in a word, Shane.

Now just because modern society has vanished doesn’t mean everyone has to follow Rick. They are free to make their own decision to leave. But since no one is attempting to go it alone, they all need to respect Rick. He is making the tough decisions, considering right and wrong in a world where most would pick wrong over right in an attempt to survive. Now I do not agree with all of his choices; for example, I would have shot Randall in the head and moved on.

But I respect what he is trying to do. He is trying to hold on to humanity in a world that forces most to abandon it. Now Rick has been trying to avoid a fight with Shane because Shane is his best friend. He values Shane’s commitment to the group and the necessary skills he brings to the table. But just like a wolf pack, there can be only one Alpha. And when an Alpha is challenged, like Shane has been subtly, (and not-so-subtly) doing, a fight is inevitable. We are, after all, animals.

So when it really comes down to it, this Rick versus Shane issue needs to be resolved. Not just for Rick to reclaim his family, but to show Shane that he needs to either respect Rick and his decisions or get out. I hear Nebraska’s nice.

The Gathering Darkness

I know many of you were hoping for another Daryl-centric blog post. Until the second half of this season begins, however, I feel like there isn’t much to say about Daryl that I haven’t already said. So for this entry, I decided to focus on the character I have come to view as the "anti-Daryl": Shane. I call him that because of the obvious contrasts between the two characters during the first half of the second season. Daryl became (for the most part) calmer while Shane lost control. Daryl began to find himself while Shane began to lose himself. Daryl’s actions allowed him to connect with others while Shane’s actions further isolated him. Daryl became a better man while Shane became a lesser man.

I doubt Shane ever saw this coming. Sure, we could see that he was probably always a little hot-tempered, but we thought and he knew that he was a good guy; he took every step he could to keep safe those whom he was charged with protecting. His sole mission once the world went to hell was to save his best friend’s wife and son from the horrors that surrounded them. But circumstances got the better of Shane and he started doing things that maybe a “good guy” wouldn’t do.

From the beginning, Shane’s comfort level as a big fish in his small pond stood out. Prior to the outbreak, he’d been a figure of authority in his community. Of course, he should lead this band of survivors. He held no doubt in his mind about that fact. When Rick returned, however, he replaced Shane as top dog. The group immediately turned to Rick and rejected Shane as a leader. More importantly to Shane, Lori also rejected him as her mate.

Had Shane really fallen in love with Lori in the, oh, four or five weeks that passed since the outbreak? Perhaps he cared deeply for Lori for years but knew, as his best friend’s girl, she was unobtainable. More likely, the intensity of the situation and his deep desire to protect her and Carl caused Shane to feel what he thought was a deeper connection to Lori, obviously much more than she felt to him. Yet it was obvious once her husband showed up, that Lori was 100% Rick’s.

Shane’s veiled hostility grew as rejections by the group and Lori continued to pile up. We saw red-tinged anger cross his face when Rick’s back was turned. Although Rick was his best friend, Rick also invaded his territory and took away his power. Lori’s rejection? Just icing on the proverbial cake. Every time Shane was rejected in one form or another, particularly by Lori, we saw a little more of the darkness in his soul creeping toward the surface.

Unable or unwilling to lash out at Lori after she told him that her family was “off-limits,” Shane instead beat Ed to a bloody pulp after Ed struck Carol. As a lawman, Shane would have been trained to keep a cool head in such situations, but he threw his training to the wind and took out his frustration over the situation with Lori on Ed.

Shane tried unsuccessfully to convince Lori to back his plan to go to Fort Benning instead of Rick’s plan to go to the CDC. Not long after their discussion, Shane sights his rifle on Rick in the woods and we wondered if he would have taken the shot were it not for Dale’s interference.

While at the CDC, Lori rejects Shane’s advances and we all remember his reaction. Forcing himself on her was the action of a desperate, lonely, and drunken man who would do anything – even sexual violence - to get what he wanted. It gave us foreshadowing for other repulsive acts Shane would also willingly commit. This scene was also the turning point for many fans and their opinion of Shane’s character because it showed what he was capable of doing and made us realize just how dangerous he truly was.

Shane’s acrimony toward Rick’s leadership increased as the first half of Season 2 progressed. He argued about every decision - particularly the one to continue searching for Sophia - and in doing so challenged Rick as the alpha male. It was never clear to me whether Shane’s growing contentiousness was simply because he genuinely disagreed with Rick, because everyone else looked to Rick instead of him for leadership, or because he couldn’t have Lori.

Shane bounced back when Carl was injured, being a true friend to Rick when he needed one most and a good guy again, but this was short-lived. Shooting Otis to ensure his own escape from the walkers showed a man who’d lost his humanity. Fans view this act in two distinctly different ways: 1) “He did what had to be done” or; 2) ”How could he do that?” I suppose including that example here makes it obvious I lean toward the second view. I understand that people will do anything to save someone they love - especially a child. I still view Shane’s action as nothing less than cold-blooded murder. At the point he chooses to shoot Otis he lost, to me at least, the last shred of what made him human, to begin with.

As Season 2 continued, Shane’s leadership continued to be rejected by the group. Although there are no direct examples of this, when Carol told Lori that she was, as Rick’s wife, the de facto “first lady” of the group, it indicated the general feeling among the others as well. Shane would have picked up on these feelings, even if no one directly spoke the words to him. Lori openly rejected both his leadership skills and feelings for her when she asked if he would willingly leave behind a lost little girl in order to keep her and Carl safe. His silence on the matter spoke volumes. These were additional blows to Shane’s fragile ego.

After discovering that Lori is pregnant in Pretty Much Dead Already, Shane tried to convince her that she should be with him instead of Rick. He implied he was better suited to protect her and her unborn baby than Rick, saying that Rick wasn’t cut out for their new world and he, Shane, was the one who saved her life repeatedly. He finally told her he knew he fathered her baby. When Lori replied “Even if it is yours, it’s not gonna’ be yours. It is never gonna’ be yours,” she delivered what should have been the death blow to Shane ego. By denying even the possibility that Shane fathered her child, Lori rejected Shane totally and completely.

Later, after Shane returned with the guns that he found Dale hiding in the swamp, Lori again delivered a swift kick to Shane’s ego and reinforced his place in the leadership pecking order when she told him “Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make.”

During his drill sergeant routine at the barn doors, as he stomped and screamed “If you wanna’ live, you gotta’ fight for it,” questions about his motivations flew through my mind. Did Shane feel compelled to force this confrontation with Herschel right then and there in order to openly defy and challenge Rick? Was Shane’s lack of concern for the consequences his behavior would have on the rest of the group because Lori wouldn’t acknowledge her baby could be his? Or was he just utterly convinced that his way of handling the situation was the best way

Motivations aside, Shane's actions put everyone in danger when he busted open the doors and let the walkers out. I will leave the debate about whether or not Shane did the right thing to others. Suffice it to say my thought on the subject is that although Shane may have been right in demanding the barn walkers be put down, it should have been handled in a more controlled manner. As Shane did it, the entire group was put in a position of unnecessary risk. Those with dark souls seldom care how their actions affect others.

Yes, Shane took charge of the barn situation, but in the end, all he really did was show his inability to truly lead and just how little of a hero he really was. When Sophia stumbled out of the barn, now a walker herself, he just stood there. A real leader, as Rick showed in this scene, would have done what needed to be done and put down Sophia. Shane was only able to make easy choices - as Lori pointed out previously - such as simply abandoning Sophia, but he was incapable of making the truly hard ones. Has he never been capable of hard choices or has he become unable to do so because of his slipping sanity and inability to see beyond his own wants?

Shane is the character we most love to hate and actor Jon Bernthal does an excellent job making us do so. He seems to effortless display the physical mannerisms of someone on the edge of losing control, his body language painting a frighteningly clear picture of Shane's mental state. The modulation in his voice and emphasis on just the right words makes us believe that he will snap at any moment. And like Norman Reedus's portrayal of Daryl Dixon, Bernthal's facial expressions often tell us more than his dialogue in many scenes. He makes us believe that yes, Shane is one dangerous dude.

Will Shane ever leave the group or will he remain and continue wrestling with Rick for leadership? I suspect in the second half of Season 2 we will see Shane continue challenging Rick’s status as alpha of the group. Too much has happened for Shane to back off now. He will still no doubt think that he - not Rick - was right about everything. The bigger question, the answer for which I can't predict: Will anyone other than Dale - whom Shane on two separate occasions not so subtly threatened - ever see the growing darkness in Shane?